Tornado
by Ishval
Summary: Tornadoes are a rare occurance but do happen in Japan. This is one of those occurances. First in my Mai and Naru series.
Disclaimer: I have nothing to do with Ghost Hunt whatsoever. Just love the show and manga and wish they had continued. If you want to leave a review, please do. Decided to rewrite this again.

Tornado!

Kazuya Shibuya leaned back in his overstuffed black office chair as he flipped through the pages of an old file. He reached up and grabbed the bridge of his nose as his began to blur over the words that spread over the page. He slapped the file down on the desk, still no answer to finding a way to train Mai's ever-growing abilities.

The girl, Mai Taniyama, was an enigma, a riddle that Naru was determined to solve. Not only did she possess clairvoyance, post-cognitive dreams, and astral projection. Add to that list a possibility of pre-cognitive dreams like premonitions to events that might happen in the future.

The ebony haired teen shifted in his seat and closed his eyes. His thoughts slipped back to the day he found the body of his missing twin brother Eugene. Naru sat up in his chair, and his mouth grew dry. He tried to swallow past the cotton lump in his throat.

 _How can I tell her how I feel?_ A sigh came from his lips.

He kept his co-workers and friends at arm's length by keeping the exterior of an ice cube in place. He couldn't help but remember the look in Mai's eyes as those words escaped his lips when she confessed her love several months ago. The words still rang in his ears. "Who do you love, Mai. Me or Gene?"

He turned his back on her and walked away. He never allowed himself to hear her answer.

 _ _Idiot scientist,__ Gene's voice broke into his thoughts.

 _ _Do not start this with me again Gene.__

 _ _You hurt her, and finally, you are accepting of that fact I see. You know it would be wise to let her understand how you feel, how you feel before you lose her for good.__

 _ _What do you mean?__

 _ _Well… I hate to tell you this little bro, but you do have some competition for her affection.__

 _ _Do you mean you, Gene? You are her spirit guide in her dreams.__

 _ _No, not me, but there is someone else who has been showing her a lot of attention lately whether you have noticed or not.__

 _ _Who is he?__

 _ _Sorry bro, I can't tell you. But something wicked is heading your way. Turn on the TV.__

He did as Gene suggested. Picking up the remote, he turned on the TV. The weather reporter was highlighting the fact that a super cell thunder storm was on it's way to Japan from the mainland and picking up speed.

Naru didn't like what he saw. The super cell was showing possibilities of tornadic activity. If it continued on its current track it would go through Gunma, then Tokyo, Shibuya and other points east before heading out to sea.

He rose from his chair and knocked on his bodyguard's door, "Lin."

The stoic Chinese man looked up from his computer as the door opened, "What is it, Oliver?"

"There's a storm coming in from the coast. From all appearances, it will hit around the time for Mai to get out of high school. Could you go pick her up and bring her back here?"

"Certainly," Lin replied as he noticed a hint of worry in his charges dark blue eyes.

As Lin strode out of the office, the great Oliver Davis leaned up against a door. He examined his feelings and realized he was afraid. Afraid of loneliness. He clinched a fist as determination set it. _I will tell her._

Mai sat in the classroom, and she sighed as the droning sound of Mr. Nakamura's continued as he lectured his class on telling the truth.

Her eyes moved to the clock on the wall. She groaned as the hands seemed to mock her need for the class to end. _Will he just stop talking for five minutes? Ugh._

She sat up in her chair as a bright flash off in the distance caught her attention. Her hand trembled as warning bells went off in her head. Her intuition screamed for her to flee. She fought to calm her nerves. _Take your mind off it._ She had a sense that her life was going to change today.

She caught herself before she broke out into a giggle as an image came to mind of her narcissistic boss, Naru. "Tea loving jerk," she mumbled.

As the bell rang releasing her from her torment, she ran down the hallway and grabbed her shoes. Slipping them on she ran outside and stopped as her eyes locked on Lin standing next to his car scanning the sea of students leaving the school.

Fighting through the crowd, she ran up to the tall Chinese man and a smile tugged at the corners of her lips. "Hi Lin, what are you doing here?"

He allowed a slight smile in return. "Naru sent me to pick you up."

A breeze blew her hair around her face as the pair climbed into his car.

Lin expertly drove his car through the traffic as the pair rode in silence. _That's a first,_ she thought.

Lin pulled the car into the parking garage. The breeze turned to a gust of wind as they ran into the building as the first drops of rain hit the ground with loud splats.

Mai put her knapsack down next to her desk, strode over to the kitchenette, took the kettle off the small stove, and turned the tap on filling it to make tea. Placing it on the stove, she turned the flame on. She reached up into the cabinet that hung on the wall over a white counter and pulled out several teacups. She looked at the teacups. "Four?" she muttered to herself and then shrugged. She pulled out a cannister and placed the tealeaves into the small tea server.

The kettle whistled, and she turned off the fire pouring the hot water into the server. The bell on the door rang pulling her attention away from the steeping tea. She put on her best customer-meeting smile and stepped into the reception and interview area of the office. "Welcome to Shibuya Psychic Research, can I help you?"

The woman standing there was dripping from a thorough soaking.

Mai guessed her age to be about twenty-three with Japanese features. But her darker complexion told Mai she was foreign.

The woman wore a black leather jacket, jeans, and a tank top showing her toned abs. The woman smiled and blushed, "I hope you can give me a safe place to sit out this storm, it's raining cats and dogs out there."

"Would you like a cup of tea?" Mai asked.

"That would be great, thank you."

"I'll look for something so you can dry off some," Mai strode off to the office's rest room and brought back a towel for the woman.

She strode to the kitchenette, put the cups and saucers on a silver serving tray, filled the cups with the tea, and carried the tray out. She passed a cup to the woman and sat the second cup on the coffee table. Striding over to Naru's office, she knocked on his door, opened the door and placed a cup on his desk. Without waiting for a thank you from him, she strode out and knocked on Lin's door. Upon hearing the older man's voice, she entered and sat his cup down on his desk and exited and closed the door behind her.

Curiosity got the better of both men, and they decided to investigate the sounds of conversation from the outer office. Naru sat down on the couch next to Mai, and Lin took a chair.

Naru looked at the woman, "I'm Kazuya Shibuya, and this is my assistant Lin."

"I'm Jessica Manyhorses." She watched as the younger of the two men raised an eyebrow to her name. She couldn't help herself as she laughed at his at his expression. "Sorry, but I get that reaction a lot. My mother was Japanese, and my father is a Marine stationed here at the US Marine base, but his unit was shipped out to Afghanistan." She chuckled, "I'm basically a Marine brat."

She saw that he wanted her to continue. "My father is what some people call a Native American. Others call him Indian. I don't care what they call him or me. I'm proud of my heritage."

The TV began to go haywire with a loud beeping drawing everyone's attention. The weatherman announced an outbreak of tornadic activity over the Gunma region with the storm heading for Tokyo.

Naru stood, "We're leaving," he stated calmly.

"We're what?" Mai asked.

"We've got to get out of here," he grabbed Mai's wrist and began to pull her towards the door.

"Won't we be okay here?" She struggled in his grip.

Jessica having lived through a few tornadoes in America shook her head no. "There's no time to debate this Mai. We have to get to a lower level."

Lin grabbed his coat from the coat rack, as Jessica grabbed her leather jacket and they ran out the door and down the stairs to the café below. They rushed into the restaurant, and Naru relayed to the manager that a possible tornado was heading their way.

"Everyone leave everything. Get into the cooler," the manager yelled as she pointed toward the storeroom. Naru led the way to the large walk-in freezer as everyone entered. The manager double checked making sure no one was hiding in the cafe and closed the door tight behind her.

Mai looked up into Naru's eyes as her intuition screamed and her fear grew, "Do you think we'll be okay in here?"

Naru stared into her eyes. He saw the fear that swam there. Even from inside the freezer the winds howled, and the freezer door shook. "Mai," he said, as she trembled next to him. Naru couldn't be sure if it was the cold from the freezer, her fear, or both.

"Mai," he said louder as the howling grew.

She turned her head.

"Do you trust me?" he asked.

She nodded something banged up against the freezer with a big clang. She flinched.

He leaned in. His decision made.

He pressed his lips to hers, and they both felt an electrical current pass through their bodies. He deepened the kiss, and she responded in kind.

He pulled her body flush against his. Her arms lifted and her fingers combed through his hair. They came up for air.

Lin looked away from the pair.

She leaned her head into his chest as he held her tightly. He dipped his head, so she heard his voice whisper, "I will protect you. Always. I love you Mai Taniyama."

She felt her face grow hot as a tear ran down her cheek.

"How... how can you love someone like me," she whispered. "I'm nothing special like Masako."

Her eyes narrowed, and her voice grew angry. "You asked me back at the lake if I had confused you with Gene because you had some stupid idea that I was in love with your dead brother."

She fought to hold back her tears, but no matter how hard she fought they found their away around the dam. "He's my spirit guide, and he's like a brother to me. How could I be in love with him when I'm in love with you?"

Naru wiped the tears from her eyes. He pulled her in tighter as he spoke, "I'm sorry for that. I know I hurt you when you confessed. Please understand, Mai. My brother was dead, and I didn't want to be hurt again, so I closed you and your feelings out."

She looked up into his face, as she wrapped her arms around his waist. "You know, your brother is right about one thing, though. You are an idiot scientist." A slight smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "I still love you, idiot." She pressed her head to his chest and gasped when she heard the rumble of a chuckle.

The howling of the wind subsided to silence. The manager cracked the door open slightly to peek out. "It's over," she called. Some of the customers took tentative steps outside of the safety of the cooler. Naru pressed his lips to Mai's a second time, they both got to their feet and stepped out into the light. Lin and Jessica followed the pair.

Broken glass littered the floor, chairs and tables looked like pieces from a kid's Tinker Toy tossed around. Pieces of wallpaper flapped in the breeze.

Glass crunched beneath their shoes. Exiting the damaged café, they took the stairs to the upper offices of the SPR building. Surprisingly the building seemed structurally sound only the glass of the windows were blown out. They cleaned the mess.

Mai rummaged in the storeroom and found some good plywood, hammers, and nails. They nailed the wood over the gaping holes blocking out the wind and the rain.

Lin found a couple of flashlights and candles since the storm had knocked out the power out for the area along with the phones. Luck was with them as their cellphones worked.

Mai's rang. "Hello?" She listened to the speaker. She groaned as she disconnected the call and sat down holding her head in her hands.

Naru sat down next to her. "What's wrong Mai?"

She sniffed as she raised her hand. "My apartment building is gone, and I have nowhere to go."

The older woman sat down on the other side of Mai. "I have an idea, and you have been so kind to me Mai. I'd like you to stay with me until you can find somewhere else to live."

"You mean it?" she asked as Hope bloomed in her heart.

"I mean it."

She hugged Jessica fiercely. She didn't sense anything bad about the woman. Deep down she knew she could trust the older woman. She dropped her head into her hands again as sadness washed over her again. "I don't care about the stuff I had, except..." she paused, swallowed hard, "The picture of my parents is gone, and I don't have any clothes."

Naru put his arm around Mai's waist and pulled her into his lap. "I can't replace the picture of your parents but once things settle down I can help you with the problem of clothes. However, you will be living with me."

"Naru? Are you serious?"

"Yes."

Her heart swelled with overwhelming love, as Naru claimed her lips again. She made a new friend, and now a caring boyfriend. Well, make that a tea loving, workaholic sometimes jerk of a boyfriend. "It's about time you idiot scientist."

"How did I know it would take a tornado to show me how I felt?"

Gene chuckled in Oliver's mind. __Take care of her. She deserves it.__

Oliver smiled to himself. __Your right about that,__ He smiled to himself as he held Mai in his lap who was slipping into an exhausted sleep. He felt a small smile tug at his mouth. _Everything is perfect now_.

End


End file.
